Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-07
THE FEMALE BLACKMAILER.
1ne of the Pests OF Business Men In New
York.
Brooklyn Times.


business men as agents for the sale of
various portable articles Stories of their
nefarious exploits are heard on every
hand, but they are seldom published.
Human nature is such that it is ready to
balieve the worst OF mankind, and thus
| the man OF spotless life and the woman of
whitest sanctity, by strange
and weird exigency, becomes
the, unconscious confederates of
the female Dlackmailer. These adven-
turesses pretend to be the widows of
soldiers seeking pension, or they, are
gathering subscriptions for some well
known charity, or they are selling books
or works of art or stationery; in fact,
almost any pretense is used for the pur-
pose of seeing the banker, merchant or
! lawyer alone. 1t may seem surprising
that lawyer could be entrapped, but it
has been done. The case of Alexander
Hamilton is historical. He was
entrapped by voluptuous woman and
acCeded to some of her demands for
money, but when she and her pre-
Blended husband went too far he COMES ed
Ethe whole matter in public letter, at the
Tsame time Indignantly denying tnat he had
ever used his place as Secretary of the
Treasury, which he then held, to further
the interests of the schemers. That let
ttefttwitched the fangs from the serpent's
mouth and Alexander Hamilton died as
he had lived-the idol of the people. A
young lawyer on Nassau street, l heard
the other day, was viCtimiZed by a woman
who sold engravings. He had large prac-
tiCe in civil cases but knew nothing of
the criminal classes. The adventures in
this case was q handsome woman of
thirty, well dressed and modest in de-
meanor. He subscribed for the en-
cravings and she delivered them weekly.
At the third call the clerks heard dis
pute between the woman and the lawyer
in his private office. The woman's voice
was angry and threatening; the lawyer in
a lower one, was pleading and eXpostu-
lating. She LETT in 8 few minutes ap-
parently IN state of excitement. The
lawyer, it was noticed, became nervous
and preOCcupied. The woman called
every week for four months. Then
the young lawyer consulted another
in the criminal practice and
revealed the fact that at the third call,
which the woman made for the purpose
of leaving the engrsvings, she had asked
him for 500 as gift. If he refused she
would go to his wife, to whom he had
been married only about two years, and
tell her that she had been in the habit of
calling on him and that he had conducted
himself in an improper manner. He had
at first refused to give her the money and
had defed her to do her utmost. She
left her address, however, and said that
If she did not receive the money by noon
the next day she would carry her threat
into execution. He was in q quandary.
Before y o'clock the next day, however,
he had decided that it would be better
to pay the money, and he did
so. a week later she called and
demanded $25 q week as the price of
her silence. He weekly paid it for about
four months, and then called in the as
sistapCe of criminal lawyer, who at
once sent a detective to the office to
await the arrival of the woman who was
to come that day. When the woman en-
tered the detectives head was bent over
desk in the outer office, apparently en-
gagged in clerical work. He recognized
her at once as an adventures we'll known
to The police. He allowed her to enter
the lawyers private office, get her weekly
blaCkmail and leave without a scene.
When she stepped into the elevator he
followed. She recognized him with q
blank look of establishment. He did not
address her until they reached the street
and the other passengers in the elevator
were out of hearing. Then he said to her 3;
"Well, Mollie, l see you are at your old
tricks again, amt your"
She did not reply. Then he added
81 will trouble you to give me that $25
you have in your pocket" The woman
gave it up at once. "NoW," said the de-
tective, "Tm going home with you,
Mollle. Where do you live?"
They took the elevated road and went
to handsomely furnished fat up town.
The door was opened by an old woman,
apparently the younger woman's mother,
and she also had a servant. The sur
roundings were attractive; everything
had the appearance of a refined and
respectable home. The detective said to
the handsome adventures: "Now 1 am
going to search the house for the money
you have taken from that man down
town."
ooh! don't do that" she answered..
81 will give you all that l have" And |
she soon brought him about $50. Then |
the detective left. He knew that he could |
get no more, and that if he arrested he. |
there would necessarily be unwelcome |
never troubled thereafter. The same |
woman is still at work on other victims.
Those who have been blackmailed do not |
publicly complain, and thus women Of
that class prey on society almost with |
A clergyman up town paid
blackmail for long time before he in
voked the aid of his friends. merchant
paid blackmail once when woman thrust
herself into his private Office and threat
ened to scream if he did not. He never
paid again, for he gave strict orders not
to admit the woman. Many merchants
and bankers refuse to see a woman until
she has stated her business in full to a
clerk. This rule protects many million
aires from the wiles of these sharks. In
smaller offices such rule is not so prac-
ticable. Brokers have often been victim
lied. These women do not attempt to
extort money at once. They act mod
estlY at first and merely endeavor to sell
the book or picture, but after few
visits have been made they try
to wheedle money out of
the broker for alleged family necessities,
Or they threaten to put themselves in